Work

In my content strategy career, I have been blessed to work with wonderful people at brands like J.P. Morgan, Humana, USAA, General Mills, Budweiser and Sun Trust Bank. If you like what you see below and want to see how I could help your brand (big or small), do say hello.

Airbnb for Work - Content strategy and content marketing (Time on account: 2017)

I led strategy and content operations for the newly-formed business travel group at Airbnb which broadly meant driving forward the strategy with key executives and then generating content that was on time, on brief and under budget.

Our strategy was guided by target personas and a very in-depth customer journey. I led creation of articles, infographics and videos to help support travel managers at all stages of the customer journey. We also structured our process in a way that prepared for Marketo implementation and a robust lead scoring program.

The site launched in late March, 2018. It's anticipated that business travel will be a billion dollar part of the home-sharing economy within the next few years, thanks in some part to our work.

Useful (now WithRoster.com) - VP of Marketing (Time on account: 2016)

As VP of Marketing for Useful, a field service management app, I ran the department and coordinated closely with my VP of Sales. I set up our lead scoring program in HubSpot and we'd just begun marketing automation — sending out personalized emails based on user behavior.

I'm proud to have opened 6 distribution channels within 6 months to start the flow of qualified leads to sales. Our revised website and new blogging channel added 10K+ views in the first 6 months. A new marketing automation program boasted email open rates as high as 44%. And our paid advertising via 4 AdWords campaigns across 13 landing pages resulted in a 10% lower CPC and 27% lower cost/lead month-over-month.

J.P. MORGAN - Content marketing strategy (Time on account: 2013-2014)

I led a small team working up a full content marketing strategy for the Corporate & Investment Bank and the Private Bank. We gained perspective and best practices through a deep competitive audit and gained an understanding of their own content in that greater ecosystem based on a content audit and our quantitative framework.

We used the audits to inform a strategic plan centered around the annual Treasurer's Forum in New York, NY. The strategic content plan included creation guidelines, voice/tone details, a content distribution plan and governance requirements. We spent many months working with our client to craft this strategic content plan in order for individual lines of business to adopt at their pace while laying the groundwork for a nascent but broader content governance plan.

I cannot discuss results. These marketers are certainly not creating content in order to crow loudly; their objective is often to simply to refine to whom they market. And they were satisfied that we helped them do just that.

HUMANA - Full website redesign (Time on account: 2011-2012)

I was the lead content strategist for the redesigned Humana.com, which debuted in the Spring of 2013. This work involved close collaboration with information architects, planners, copywriters and designers. The sheer volume of content and its subsequent re-organization was our biggest challenge.

In the photos, you will notice a fully redesigned homepage with prominent well-being messaging (a key strategic touch point), all new user-focused "Solutions for You" (matching plans with life events) and a re-organized taxonomy for easier browsing.

Content and content organization were a key feature when Forrester Research evaluated insurance sites in 2013. "In the report, Forrester evaluated health insurance websites for their usability, content and functionality, and Humana’s came out on top."

I was the lead content strategist for a major UX shift for USAA.com. Working closely with information architects, we developed a more user-focused taxonomy, built out new areas of their advice center and planned for highly-targeted mass amounts of content in the future.

Everything about this advice center is user-focused and data driven. We knew there was a great cross-selling opportunity by grouping products within the rubric of customer life events or rites of passage (e.g. Deployment, having a child or loss of a loved one). Then we dove into the data to determine which life events were most important - both to the customer and to USAA. For instance, my team was able to determine that it was twice as profitable for USAA to produce content regarding marriage than it would be to produce content about divorce.

Results showed that this strategy paid off. Visitors who viewed advice content were several times more likely to purchase a product than visitors who didn't view educational content.

"Experts said USAA's strategy was an intelligent way to keep customers coming to the site, as there is a large need for information about finances. 'People are getting this advice and information online, and they will go to wherever they find it,' said Nicole Sturgill, a research director at TowerGroup in Needham, Mass. Customers can now go to USAA with questions, she said, and expect to find answers there."

DJ Francis

DJ Francis is a content strategy expert based in Boulder, Colorado. He has been involved in content strategy and content marketing work as part of larger digital marketing projects for clients like USAA, Humana Insurance, Anheuser-Busch, Aveda and General Mills.

Testimonials

"DJ's expertise and passion for all things content make him someone you hope to work with again and again.

--Christine V., Information Architect

“There are many reasons that DJ produces such exciting and innovative content strategy work...First, he is able to use his intelligence to effectively organize and present huge amounts of information in understandable and actionable strategic plans..."

--Linda M., Content Strategist

"His patience, attention to detail, and good nature cannot be overstated. With sensitivity, he is able to lead groups of people with occasionally conflicting interests and personalities.

Make no mistake, when DJ sets his mind to something, it will get done."